


bouquet

by smallredboy



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Episode: s3s20 House Training, Flowers, M/M, Pining, Secret Crush, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-03 22:49:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17886617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/pseuds/smallredboy
Summary: House gets Wilson flowers as a prank, and then he gets Wilson flowers as a non-prank.





	bouquet

**Author's Note:**

> fills the compare and contrast square in my genpromptbingo card, and the 'sending flowers' square in my allbingo valentines day card

House had already sent Wilson flowers once.

Naturally, it was a ploy— Wilson wasn’t aware he was in love with him, and he used his emotions to play a prank on Wilson. He knew it’d work out, he knew he’d eat it up— as much as Wilson is terribly intelligent, and a manipulative bastard in a sheep’s clothing, he can be gullible in the matters of love and women. And so there he was while he was supposed to be working, at a flower shop less than a mile away from Princeton-Plainsboro.

The florist was a nice older woman, with a kind smile and an accepting attitude. 

“You’re Dr. House, aren’t you, dear?” she asked, tilting her head. “What lady are these flowers for?”   


House swallowed his desire to correct her. He didn’t want the word to spread that he was bisexual— it was all too early for that. So he shifted his weight. “Put it down as ‘For Wilson, from Lisa’. Put ‘Let's do it again soon’ and a bunch of X’s in there, too.”

The woman raised a brow, and she seemed to ask herself if she wanted to delve further on House’s ploy. But she decided against it, because she wrote exactly that down without much of a complaint. He paid for the flowers and looked at the bouquet— it was very much in Cuddy’s fashion and style. He wouldn’t be surprised if Wilson didn’t doubt the truthfulness of it at all.

He thanked the woman with a curt nod and headed back to the hospital, leaving the bouquet there, knowing Wilson was going to get out of the elevator and see them any time now. His heart skipped a beat when he rushed towards them, and Wilson’s eyes light up and his lips curled into such a wide smile.

House wondered for a few long seconds if he’d react the same way if it read ‘from House’. He knew there was no use of such thoughts, he knew it was hopeless, and he knew all he could do was meddle into Wilson’s love life enough to not have to see him with any woman for too long. He had already dealt with two of his ex-wives, he was tired of this cycle.

Wilson took a sniff of the flowers, looking like he had been brought back to life. He bounced his leg a little and then headed towards him, talking happily about the message, and House tried to ignore just how much his heart ached at the sight. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about how much he wanted to see Wilson this happy because of him — he was supposed to be thinking about how to meddle more, so Cuddy and Wilson would never, ever become something more than friends.

But he simply turned on his tracks and headed to Cuddy, giving her a smirk he didn’t mean.

And now he’s here, a year and a half later, after many happenings. And he’s in the same flower shop, with the same older woman behind the counter, making a bouquet for him. The colors are more muted this time— but they’re still flowers, so it still feels like too much, and too little at the same time.

He gives her a forced smile when she asks him if he likes the arrangement.

“What lady are these flowers for, House?” she asks. “Is it a ploy again?”   


The flower shop is small, so he’s not too surprised she remembers.

Still, he gives her the closest thing to a genuine smile he can manage. “No lady, no ploy. ‘For James, from House’.”

The older woman’s face lights up, and he lets his smile widen just a bit.


End file.
